Man charged over Hyde Park IRA bomb
A man from Co Donegal has been charged with the murders of four soldiers who died in an IRA car-bomb attack near London’s Hyde Park in 1982.
John Anthony Downey, 61, was arrested at Gatwick Airport on Sunday.
Scotland Yard has now confirmed that he stands accused of being responsible for the bomb attack which killed the four members of the Royal Household Cavalry.
They had been travelling from their barracks to Buckingham Palace at the time of the blast.
“The Metropolitan Police Service has been investigating the explosion near Hyde Park in London which occurred on 20 July 1982,” Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counter-terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said.
“We have reviewed the evidence gathered and authorised them to charge John Anthony Downey.”
She added: “Downey has been charged with the murders of Roy John Bright, Dennis Richard Anthony Daly, Simon Andrew Tipper and Geoffrey Vernon Young.
“He has also been charged with intending to cause an explosion likely to endanger life contrary to S3 Explosive Substances Act 1883.”
Downey is due to appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday afternoon.
